How Defender Bear Learned to Deal
by Phoenix Audubon
Summary: He may not be a card shark, but this Care Bear knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.


**How Defender Bear Learned to Deal**

_"Even when you're playing against fate with a deck stacked against you, you can pull out a winning hand—if you're the dealer."_

There they were—Defender Bear and Grumpy Bear, unmoving, locked eye to eye, not a word passing between them.  Only a lamp above them distinguished them from the dim room around them.  Each bear seemed to be waiting for the other to make a move.

            "Hit me," Grumpy finally responded in a deep, low voice.

            "What?" Defender replied, shocked.  "I don't know if you can handle one more, Grumpy." 

            "Go on.  I can take it," he pressed.

            Defender sighed, and said "All right then," as he hesitantly drew his hand back…

            …And turned the top card of the deck over, revealing the five of spades.

            "22. That's bust," Defender summarized as dealer.

            "Oh, fiddlesticks!  I thought for sure I was going to 21 this hand," the blue bear grumbled.

            "You know, you would've won if you had stayed with the 17 you had already," said Defender.  "Watch--as dealer, I had 11.  If you had stayed, I would have dealt myself the 5 that put you over, which makes 16.  Rules say I can only stand on 17 or higher." He picked up the next card from the deck, but instead of looking at it, he showed the front of the card to Grumpy.  "I'm sure this would've put me over by plenty."  Grumpy's eyes widened at the sight of the card.  He was baffled.  "How did you know that?"

            Defender finally showed the card to himself—the King of Diamonds—before letting Grumpy in on his "secret".  "Actually, I didn't know for sure what was going to happen during this hand.  I only had a 'feeling' how it could have turned out.  Guess I was right," he shrugged.

            "Oh, _I _get it now," the blue bear teased, "Now I know why you volunteered to be a dealer and not play with the rest of us."

            "Now you wait just a minute," Defender objected.  "I am _not_ a cheater!  I just thought that since I'm still kind of new around here, I shouldn't be eligible for the top prize tonight.  You know, so I can get some more experience."

            Grumpy's raised eyebrow presented his skepticism perfectly.

            "Okay, okay, okay.  **And**, I didn't want to put myself in a position that I _might_ be tempted to 'tip the odds'.  There, I said it.  You happy now?"

            "Not after this hand," he griped.

            "Well, according to the standings board, you're still in the lead, so I don't see why you're complaining.  Should we start calling you 'Greedy Bear' now?" Defender laughed at his own jibe.  Grumpy left the blackjack table not out of shame, but merely had enough of what this dealer had to say.  As Phoenix Audubon finished his chuckle, he smoothed out the wrinkles from his white-collar shirt.  Along with the black vest and matching slacks, the black garter on his right upper arm, and the translucent green visor he was wearing, he felt he looked like quite the formidable opponent.  He softly laughed again from his own vanity.

            _I have to commend True Heart and Noble Heart for this, _he thought to himself.  _The idea of a group like the Care Bears having a "casino night" might not seem to work together, but everyone seems to be having a good time._  He was looking at some of the other bears and cousins running other tables.  _There's Good Luck working the craps table.  To think that a few people thought he might be prone to cheat, I hope that by also volunteering to be a dealer dispels all doubts about him.  Then again, what do I know?  I haven't been here long enough to get to know everybody, but on the same coin, does everybody else know me?  Well, of course, there's Wish Bear, but…_

            "Ahem…"

            When Phoenix looked up to see who wanted his attention, wouldn't you know?  Standing across from his table was none other than Wish Bear herself.

            "You're sitting idle," she observed.  "Does that mean you're that bad of a dealer?"

            "Don't you mean, 'too good'?" the white bear retorted.  They both snickered.

            "I suppose we'll just have to find out—once I leave here with a big pile of chips!"

            "Oh, is that so?  Well, prepare to be trumped, dear Wish!"  And, with a playful smile on each of their faces and a shuffle of the deck by Defender Bear, the cards were dealt, and they began to play.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

            When the winnings were tallied, Grumpy Bear and Bedtime Bear had the two highest scores, and were both entitled to a week off of work.  When a volunteer was asked to cover Bedtime's shift, Defender Bear gladly volunteered.  He had been having some problems falling asleep at night recently, so he figured that if he had to be up, he could at least do something productive with it.

            And so, the past few nights, Defender Bear patrolled the quiet streets of Care-a-Lot, lantern in hand, to ensure the safety of his family and those on Earth.  This week, however, the nights seemed to be fairly uneventful.  There wasn't any sign of trouble up in the clouds or down below.

            Or so it had been until tonight.  While walking down the main street, the alarm on Defender's caring beeper went off.  When he looked to see what set it off, it appeared to be that the Caring Meter had dropped a point.  (Recently, the Caring Meter had been configured so that the louder alarm on the meter itself would only sound in case of a serious alert, and minor alarms would only trigger the distress signal on the night watch bear's beeper.  This was so the sleeping bears and cousins wouldn't be disturbed unless it was an emergency.)  He quickly made his way to the Hall of Hearts control room, and began tapping away at the computer console to pinpoint the origin of the disturbance.

            "Good thing I've been giving that laptop a workout," Defender said to himself.  And, after a few moments, the white bear got what he needed to know.  The distress seemed to be coming from the city of Brissler.  It seemed that a young girl was feeling scared and lonely.  After uploading the coordinates to his cell phone, Defender Bear went to knock on the door of Bright Heart Raccoon.  A few minutes later, a somewhat sluggish raccoon finally opened the door.  Right before he began to speak, Bright Heart let out a slow yawn.  "What's going on, Defender?"

            "I'm sorry to have to wake you up, Bright Heart, but there's a little bit of trouble on Earth.  Can you take over night watch in Care-a-Lot while I go take care of this?" the bear asked a bit rushed.

            Bright Heart yawned again.  "Okay, that's fine.  Just let me change out my pajamas, okay?"

            "Of course.  That's fine."

            When Bright Heart stepped out ready, Defender handed him the lantern, and proceeded toward the lip of the cloud.  He looked down at the earth, at the random lights of the population.  He took a few steps back, then ran towards the edge and took a diving leap into the night sky, surreptitiously gliding towards his target in Brissler.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

            Even though it was almost midnight, it was a fairly warm night in Brissler.  A young girl by the name of Lorna was walking home from a music concert.  Her friends had offered her a ride home at the end of the concert, but since she did not live far from the arena, she had decided that she'd simply walk home on her own.  After all, it had taken her some time to convince her parents that she was mature enough to attend a crowded event without them, so by coming back on her own could prove to them beyond a shadow of a doubt that she could handle the responsibility.

            But now, as Lorna walked alone through the seemingly desolate neighborhood, with the only sound coming from distant cars and the tapping of her heels against the pavement, she was beginning to regret not taking her friends' offer earlier.  All of the dirty, dark buildings towered over her, and the unlit alleys were making her feel very anxious.  She began to walk quicker.

            "Oh, man!  This never seems to take as long when I'm walking home from school," Lorna whined to herself.  She hurried past dead end after dead end, until a voice shouted out from one of the dark alleyways.

            "Hey, cutie!  Where are you going in such a hurry?" Said a male voice from the shadows.  Lorna ignored it and continued her brisk pace.  However, from the intersecting path in front, two guys stepped out from the corner, blocking her path.

            "Kinda' late for you to be out for a walk, isn't it, sweet cheeks?" One of the men remarked.  They were both at least a foot taller than Lorna, one of them was muscular, and the other had long arms and was more lanky.  They were wearing leather jackets, jeans, and boots.  Lorna began to step back from the two provokers until she heard footsteps from behind.  She quickly turned around to find a third stocky, similarly-dressed thug approaching.

            "You've been walking around in our territory for some time now, girl," the hefty man spoke.  "Everybody who comes through our territory has to pay a toll."

            "Look, I only have a couple of dollars," the frightened girl anxiously contested.  She wasn't lying; she had spent the rest at the concert.

            "Then, it looks like you don't have enough to pay," the muscular one taunted jeeringly.  He began to flex his fingers and wrists to loosen them up.

            "But, don't worry, little girl," the skinny ruffian sneered, "I'm sure we can figure out something worth enough to pay toll.  Your jewelry sure looks nice.  Why don't you come along with us so we can work this out?"

            Lorna had heard enough.  "Help! Somebody help me!" she shouted as she ran from the crew.  She darted into the nearest alley, but unfortunately, it was like all the others—a dead end.

When the men followed her into the alley, they stopped and laughed at the poor young girl's predicament.  And, slowly, they walked ever closer to their prey.

            "Nowhere to run, and no one to help you," the husky hooligan teased.  "So, why don't we all just leave here together, nice and quiet?"

            It seemed hopeless for Lorna, until…

            "Stop right there, gentlemen!"

            Another voice echoed throughout the enclosed street.  Everyone looked around to find where it came from, but they couldn't see anyone else nearby. A few moments later, they watched a stretched out shadow appear on the ground from behind a garbage bin.  The people followed the imposing silhouette with their eyes to its owner, a short, white, not-as-imposing bear who walked out from behind the dumpster.

            "You guys should not be terrorizing innocent people like this," the white bear ordered as he pointed at the gang.  "You all need to leave this young woman be, and go away right now."

            "What the heck is that thing?" the lanky thug asked confused.

            "Looks like some kind of freak to me!" said the brawny bully.

            "A freak?  Excuse me, but I am no freak!  My name is Defender Bear, and I am here to rescue that girl!"

            "Oh, is that **so**?" the fat adversary sarcastically inquired.  "Well, I think you're too much of a runt to even save yourself.  You two," he barked at the other two ruffians, "deal with this little problem."

            The tall and buff gang members began to advance towards the unmoving Defender Bear.  First, the thin bully ran straight at Defender, but he took one step left with his right foot to move out of his attacker's way, and then quickly swept his left leg around to trip the brute as he ran by, sending him to the ground.  Then the muscular delinquent began to charge the bear. However, Defender saw him coming, and as the hoodlum approached, Defender jumped in the air, leapfrogged off the bully's head, flipped, and landed on the ground in a crouch.  This caused the big man to lose his balance, and his momentum propelled him to fall right onto his thin accomplice in a loud crash.  Those two dispatched, Defender Bear began to move towards the last thug and Lorna.

            Having just witnessed his cohorts be outwitted by this so-called "freak", the last gang member pulled out a large knife and brandished it in front of the pressing meddler.  "I wouldn't think of coming any closer, you little gnome," he warned and tilted his head towards Lorna, who was now huddling in one corner of the alley, "or sweet cheeks over there won't be looking so sweet anymore.

            "But, you've made fools out of us enough tonight.  I'm going to make sure you pay for that—in spades!"  Now, it was an armed enemy after the lone bear.  Defender reached behind him, and when he didn't his staff or his sword there, he panicked.  With a huge opponent coming after him, Defender quickly searched himself for any means of arms.  He found something in one of his vest pockets.  Sparing little time, he put some magic behind whatever it was, and flung at the thug.  Something purple darted through the air, and ricocheted off the blade of the knife, making a loud ringing sound, and knocking it out of his hand.  The weapon fell to the ground, and coming to rest next to it was...the ace of spades.

            "What the heck was that?"  The corporeal thug was starting to get irritated by all these surprises.  Defender Bear was just as perplexed.  He pulled out the contents of his pocket, and discovered it was a deck of cards from a few nights ago.  "Wow.  Talk about your ace in the hole," he said out loud.  Out of the corner of the eye, he saw the man try to reach after his knife, but another purple card sailed through the air and stuck in the ground right between the blade and his hand.  "Sorry, but you can't draw anymore," Defender quipped.

            Now the mugger was mad.  "That's it!  I've had enough of these tricks.  I'm taking you out with my bare hands!"  And now, he began to dash at Defender, who sighed and remarked, "Sometimes, they just don't learn," just before he took three cards in his right hand, charged them until they glowed purple, and tossed them at his foe.  The hoodlum quickly dove for the ground, and Defender jumped over him as he slid past.

            _This has become quite the full house, Phoenix thought to himself.  __I should probably try and salvage this mission by going by the book now.  He turned around and looked at the sprawled out gang.  He held his arms out in front of him for a second, and then threw them to either side of him.  "Care Bear…stare!"  His tummy symbol began to shine and emitted a sparkling light.  He first targeted the knife-wielding bandit, bathing him in the light, and as it did, the stare continued on towards the other two partners in crime.  When it stopped, they all began to slowly stumble to get up, moaning and looking very much unsteady._

            "Now," Defender Bear spoke to the group, "I hope that you have all learned your lesson now.  You were wrong to harass this young woman.  I suggest you all go home, and think about the error of your ways."

            As the gang members stood up, their "leader" said to the others, "Hey, guys, I think we were wrong to harass that young woman."

            "Yeah, I think I'm going home now."

            "Me, too.  I want to think about the error of my ways."

            As the three stumbled out of the alley, Phoenix Audubon quickly yelled, "Oh, and one last thing:  I am _not a gnome!"  When they had completely left, he let out a huge sigh of relief.  He put one of his hands over his tummy symbol.  "Gosh, this thing did a __really good job," he said to himself, "I need to thank the Care Bears next chance I get."  He looked at the cowering girl on the floor, and quickly rushed to her side.  "Hey, are you all right?"_

            The girl looked up at her rescuer.  "I…I think so," she meekly replied.

            Defender Bear smiled and reached out his hand.  "Come on, it's been a long night for you, I'm sure.  Why don't I walk you home?"

            She took his hand and righted herself. "Thank you, Mister….um…"

            "Call me Defender Bear.  I'm a Care Bear."

            "My name is Lorna.  You're a Care Bear?  Really?  Boy, this has been some night!"

            So, the bear walked the young girl to her place, and they stood outside her door for a couple of minutes.

            "I want to thank you again for what you did back there, Defender Bear," said Lorna.  "I don't want to think about could have happened if you hadn't come."

            "I'm just doing my job, Lorna.  In all honestly, I only came to help you because you were scared and lonely, but I was happy to help out as much as I did."

            "Well, I know now that walking alone at night isn't a good idea.  Well, I'd better go inside now."

            "And I should be getting home myself.  Take care, all right?"

            "Okay, good night."  Lorna stepped inside her house and closed the door behind her, and Phoenix began to fly back to Care-a-Lot.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

            When Phoenix got back, he sought out Bright Heart Raccoon, and gave him a status report of his last mission.

            "Sounds like it got pretty intense down there," said Bright Heart.

            "Yeah, it was a tough hand, but I managed to pull out a royal flush!" the white bear bragged.  "I played that trump card perfectly."  The raccoon soon had a perplexed look on his face.  "Okay, I'll stop with the puns now," Defender humbly replied.

            "Whatever.  Anyways, morning is coming up soon," Bright Heart added.  "I'll go ahead and finish this shift for you.  Go ahead and get some sleep."

            "All right.  Thanks, Bright Heart."

            Defender Bear opened the door to his place, took off his cloak and set on a nearby hook.  He took out the deck of cards from his pocket and examined the cards.  "Hmmm, it looks just like any other deck, but in the right hands, it can produce winning hands.  My world is just full of surprises."  He set the cards on his dresser, changed into his sleepwear, climbed into his bed, and drifted to sleep a few minutes later.

            As Phoenix Audubon slept, the deck of cards on his dresser began to glow purple.  Then, the cards began to float around the room for a few minutes before coming back to rest on the dresser, just as before.  It seemed this deck had a sidebar of its own…  
  


THE END

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Author's Notes

Project Date:  April 7, 2003—April 13, 2003

_The Care Bears and Care Bears Cousins are the property of American Greetings Corp, Nelvana Ltd, and Those Characters From Cleveland, Inc.  No relationship with any of the aforementioned companies is implied by this work._

_The story is the original idea of the author and is not intended to represent any real event.  Furthermore, the uses of the characters are not meant to represent any real person, explicitly or implied.  Any use of the story, in whole or in part, must not be completed without the prior consent of the author._


End file.
